CyberErik's Success Thread- just starting out, feedback and help welcome!

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The braun was a tough get. I went on arrival the first night, he said no off the bus. Waited about an hour for him to go out until a hotel employee told us he had gotten room service and was likely staying in so I left. I got Greinke that night though.

The next night I went back after game 1 and waited. I heard then that he had signed pregame, but I had work and couldn't attend (that's always how it seems to go). So the bus comes back and he gets off, and says to the 5 of us "Sorry guys not tonight." I quickly replied as he was right near me "Please Ryan I couldn't make it today and this is the only time I can make it all week." So he reached back and gave me a quick sig and then went inside.

After some difficulty in determining whether the Lakers arrived Friday or Saturday night, I was not able to figure it out. I decided to just head over on Saturday afternoon and see what was going on. Turns out they got in late Friday night, and Kobe signed a graph off the bus. Oh well, I got him last year- here's the pic of that epic success:

I only had 1 hour to graph when I got to the hotel, since I was out with my fiance and she was waiting for me across the street. As such I didn't think I had really any shot at getting anyone.

Well, I must be a lucky grapher, as not 15 minutes after I got there, I realized that they must have been at a practice shootaround on the day before gameday, and the bus returned. Kobe didn't go to the practice because he was "sick" so I didn't have a shot at him, but I got Pau Gasol AND Dwight Howard!

One rather embarrassing note. In the melee trying to get Dwight and Pau, a man walked past me. I thought he looked like Steve Nash, but he looked much older than I remembered- like he legit had wrinkles all over his face. He looked kind of like the 50-something overtanned dad you see playing racket ball at the YMCA. He was past me before I realized that it was, in fact, steve nash. Obviously I need him to finish the SI, so I wish I had asked him.

Oh well! Can't win em all. I'm going to the game tonight, so I'll have another crack at it and the rest of the team.

I hate when I get email updates to this thread because you make me jealous. These are some fantastic hits. I hope next time we are in a long line I am near you so you can give me advice on graphing hotels. I'm new at allot this and have no clue how to do it. anyways, as usual, congrats and WOW

@phillyfan- Sorry I make you jealous (not that sorry haha)- keep at it and the successes will come. If you read early on in my thread, Thaddeus Young was a "good" night for me not too long ago.
@Ryan- I will 50/50 smaller players, but not stars. I would consider taking money to consign stars that I have gotten in the past though.

Now on to some more successes, and Phillyfan might actually get a bit more jealous. I swung back by the hotel for pregame graphing. Crowd was pretty huge, lots of unfamiliar faces who just stumbled by the hotel by accident and decided to film it on their cell phones. Hate it when that happens.

I needed to get Steve NAsh to finish that SI cover that I started with Dwight yesterday. Dwight came out first and was REALLY cool as always. He took his time, talked to the crowd, took photos with the crowd, etc. I got him on the BACK COVER of a dime magazine, where he did a pretty awesome Adidas ad:

However, just like yesterday, Steve Nash snuck right past us while Dwight was signing! He waved but wouldn't sign. Doh!

Shortly thereafter Pau came out and started signing, after a girl asked him in Spanish (or portuguese, whatever he speaks) to come over and sign. He signed 3 graphs, and I held up my floorboard to him and said "one more same pen?" and he said "sure, one more why not!" and he signed my 2nd floorboard in 2 days:

As Pau was signing Kobe came out. He gave the crowd a warm wave and hello, and even looked like he was going to stop for a second, but in the end he kept moving to the bus. Oh well, got him last year.

We went down to the stadium after that- my fiance and I. We waited in the long line outside the gates waiting for them to open.

Now on to the worst part of the night. I CANT BELIEVE HOW AGGRAVATING THIS IS.

Have any of you been to sixers games this year to graph the road teams? The 2 tunnels, home and road, used to be parallel tunnels in the lower level of the stands. This was perfect, as you could stand across 5-6 rows and 20-30 people could get good graphing spots. This year, they totally revamped it, and the only Road Team tunnel is the tunnel that used to be for VIPs only, off to the side. There is VERY LITTLE space at the guardrail for graphing- like 2-3 people only can fit there, with 2-3 people behind them in a 2nd row reaching in.

I cannot be more angry with this setup. It only rewards those who have floor seats. I managed to get in the 2nd row behind the front row people, but got threatened several times by 60 year old men who felt the need to menace 25 year old kids who could be their grandsons how "I am getting in the way of their pictures when I ask for graphs." Puh-leese. Give me a break, gramps. Blame the sixers and their asinine setup, not me.

So I was in my spot, but someone behind me pointed across the court to the far side under the basket, and told me that MARK TEIXIERA was at the game, and was hanging out under the sixers basket. Sure enough, he was.

This led to the ultimate heartbreak of the night for me. Before doing the lakers this weekend, I finally unpacked all my ROMLBS and other baseball supplies and replaced them with my basketball supplies. If I had the baseballs I could have tried to get him on a baseball! UGHHHHH!

I didn't want to give up my spot in the autographing zone for the lakers, so I sent my fiance over to try for him. Apparently, if I had gone myself I would not have gotten him. He was on the other side of the guard rail down courtside, but she asked him really nicely with her cute girl thing going on and he came over she said and was very nice and signed for her. All I had on my for him was a blank white 4x6 glossy photo paper.

It came out really great, but I can't help but kick myself about how awesome it would be if it were a baseball. Oh well. I can either mount this in a frame with a photo or print a photo over it as I did in the past.

So as if the sixers were not jerks enough with the new autograph setup, about 20 minutes before game time, while Pau and Steve Nash were still shooting around, 2 security guards came down like riot police and ordered us all out of our graphing spots or else we would be thrown out.

They would not listen to reason about what the rules used to be- i.e. we stay until the players go in to the locker room. They kicked us all out.

I am pretty audacious in the face of the guards, so I just took a seat a few rows back until they got distracted kicking other people out. Then suddenly Steve Nash was done shooting and ran back to the locker room. I shot up from my seat and got back to the spot just in time, and got him to finish the SI cover!

As I was packing up my things, I looked to my left and saw a chinese guy holding up a basketball that he just got signed. There was only one problem: it was MY BASKETBALL. As best I can tell he either stole it from my bag or it fell out during the wild melee getting thrown out. I went over and confronted him about it being my ball. He said something incomprehensible and handed it back to me.

It would be fine, except I was saving that ball for a random encounter someday with a basketball player that I didn't have any items for. Oh well, it's signed by steve nash now:

So as you can see it was a pretty epic day/weekend for me, but it was not without its bittersweet moments. I honestly think the sixers pregame inside is a waste of time from now on- that system is just too horrible to succeed consistently.

Also, the lack of a proper item for Tex hurt a lot. I consciously unpacked all my baseballs friday to go do the lakers, and then sunday I needed even one baseball and I didn't have one. Sigh.